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Singapore Stock Exchange SGX: Hong Kong stock exchange was hit most by the slump in the Asian markets, as its index tumbled down by 6 percent, Japan’s Nikkei by 4 percent, Taiwan’s Taiex index by 3.5 percent.U.S. economy slowdown fears driving out investors from the more risky stocks to safe gold market. On Wall Street, the Dow index was down 2.5% amid concerns about a possible double-dip recession in the US.

Asian stocks tumbled on Monday after last week’s historic downgrade of the United States’ credit rating, which compounded concerns over the world’s biggest economy as well as the global outlook. Tokyo’s Nikkei index closed down 202 points, or 2.2%.Gold jumped to a new record high of $1,697 an ounce on increased demand. South Korea’s KOSPI index slipped 3.8%. The Korean Stock Exchange halted trading for five minutes when the index fell 5.5%.

It was the first time this year that the circuit breaker has been implemented. European markets also opened down on Monday, with London’s FTSE-100 trading down 1.15 per cent and the German DAX dipping 1.05 per cent on opening. The French CAC-40 posted modest gains in opening trade, rises by 0.27 per cent.